• Says Asalanka’s men will not be hard done by

Director of the country’s flagship T20 Tournament-Lanka Premier League (LPL) Samantha Dodanwela, called for the original window of July-August to be kept untampered with for the annual competition, in the aftermath of the cancellation of this year’s edition on Wednesday (22).

He made this comment while insisting that they need to take the cue from the IPL, as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officially announced that the popular event will not go ahead as initially planned in this year.

This is in lieu of Sri Lanka’s preparations for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 which it is due to co-host with India.

Dodanwela stated that ICC officials had visited the country three months ago to look into readiness of host nation venues ahead of next year’s marquee tournament.

He observed that they had identified a few shortcomings at the venues earmarked to host matches of the global gathering of the sport’s shortest format, which had forced the SLC to postpone the 2025 edition.

However, he argued that if the LPL could be confined to its original window of July-August, such issues could be overcome in future.

“I think if we could stick to the LPL original window of July-August, all these issues could be avoided,” Dodanwela, also a member of the SLC Ex-Co said.

“This could be a lesson for us going forward. I also submitted a proposal to this effect to the Ex-Co and we hope not to tamper with that window from next year, so the LPL is an annual fixture in the international calendar similar to what the BCCI has done with the IPL in April-May each year.” 

SLC had decided to defer the event to November-December this year, in order to provide match preparation for national players ahead of the World Cup next year.

The LPL Director stressed that in spite of the postponement of the LPL, Charith Asalanka’s team will not be hard done by it, as they have a hectic international schedule awaiting.

Their busy itinerary is set to start with the forthcoming T20 Tri-Series featuring Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Pakistan next month.

Apart from that, discussions are also underway between Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), to pencil in a bilateral T20 series in January in Sri Lanka, while immediately afterwards England are also slated to visit the island nation for a bilateral white-ball series.

The now-deferred LPL was slated to be held between 27 November and 23 December across three venues – Colombo, Kandy and Dambulla.

The SLC in its media release explained that the postponement follows careful consideration of the broader logistical and infrastructural demands involved in hosting a global event of this magnitude.

SLC stated that according to ICC stipulations, all host venues have to be in prime condition to meet the expectations of a 20-team international competition.

As such the game’s domestic controlling body observed that they’ve opted to shift the LPL to a more suitable window, to allow undivided attention toward preparing the requisite facilities.

It added that efforts are currently underway to improve spectator stands, modernise dressing rooms and training areas for players, refurbish international broadcast facilities, and upgrade media and general stadium infrastructure to meet the high standards required for an event of this scale.

Three international venues are currently undergoing redevelopment to support these preparations and among them the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) in Colombo, had paused its refurbishment to host 11 matches of the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, SLC pointed out.

The body further confirmed that development at RPICS will restart immediately upon the completion of its scheduled fixtures.